It’s that time of year again. No, not when I write my now seemingly annual article (sorry, I’ll try and get back to it!), but rather the time when clubs anxiously await their fate as to which division they’ll be competing in the following season. Why, though, does it always come to this?

A New Meaning To Fixture Backlog!

If you thought your club had a punishing schedule between now and the end of the season, I guarantee once you’ve read this you’ll change your mind!

Combined Counties Premier Division side Guernsey FC will not be looking forward to the month of April. Due to countless postponements, The Green Lions have to play an astonishing SEVENTEEN league matches between the first and the thirtieth. Now, you don’t have to be a mathematical whizz to figure out that that equates to a game every other day, and then some. Or, to look at it another way, it works out at nearly half the season in one calendar month! On three separate occasions, they have games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Oh, and they are also in the FA Vase semi final, a two legged affair, with the second leg on the thirtieth of March, just two days before what must surely be the busiest month any club has ever faced.

Guernsey currently sit, incredibly, in ninth place in the CCL Premier Division table, which is all the more astonishing when you consider that they have played nine games less than any other team in the division, and in some cases they have fifteen games in hand! They are “only” twenty four points behind league leaders Egham Town, on whom they have nine games in hand. Incredibly, they don’t face each other, having already played both games.

Things don’t get much easier for Guernsey in May either. If they get through to the Vase final, they will play Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to finish the season!

The club have applied for promotion to Isthmian League Division One South should they finish top of the CCL Premier, and let’s face it, if they overcome this mammoth schedule and finish on top, they damn well deserve promotion! Of course, the amount of postponements does raise the question of the validity of the Guernsey experiment, with games involving them being more susceptible to the weather than most, but I hope they are welcomed into Step 4 if they achieve it.

During their mammoth run in March, Guernsey are scheduled to play a few games that are local to me; Hanworth Villa and Bedfont Sports, and also at Badshot Lea which isn’t too far either. So hopefully I will be able to witness some of their efforts first hand. Good luck Guernsey!

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About James Bartaby

Hey,
I'm James and I'm relatively new to non-league football, having only taken in my first match in September 2011. Despite it being a 0-4 defeat for Hampton & Richmond Borough, I became a huge fan of the club and NL in general. So much so that they are now the first club that I mention when talking about which team I support! I just got massively disillusioned with top flight football in this country and the attitudes of the lawmakers and top clubs in general, and I wanted to start taking my son to see decent football.
I am now the club's Deputy Press Officer, and loving every minute!